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TAUGHT BY Deb Robson

Down Wools: Trash heap or treasure?

Full Day Class
Wednesday, April 19th
9am-5pm with 12pm-2pm break

There are six core Down wools (and in this class you’ll learn why those six qualify). The fleeces from these breeds are too often discarded (burned, composted, stuck in bags in a barn loft), because mass-production processes don’t like them.

For the handspinner (and the enlightened small-mill operator), the Down wools are treasures with combined qualities that can’t be replicated by any other group of breeds. They are lofty and bouncy, durable enough to be used for everyday textiles, soft enough for many people to wear next-to-skin, and amenable to a number of preparation techniques—and they can be machine-washed and -dried without any industrial processing like superwash treatment.

Come play with Dorset Down, Hampshire Down, Oxford Down, Shropshire, Southdown, and Suffolk wools, beginning with clean fleece. (Note: Four of the six are rare breeds—Dorset Down, Oxford Down, Shropshire, and Southdown.)

Material Fee: $35

Level: can spin a single and ply

STUDENTS SHOULD BRING

Tools to bring—essentials:

  • The essentials are something to spin with (wheel or spindle: a very few techniques work better on a wheel, but everything important can be experienced with a spindle) and a writing utensil (pen or pencil). You may want a notebook.

Things to bring—nice but not essential:

  • If you have room in your luggage or car, you may also want fiber-prep tools of choice (most likely to use mini-combs or peasant combs, hand carders, flicker, or any other OR dog-grooming combs or slickers).
  • You may want a means of winding a center-pull ball for plying (nostepinne or the thumb technique), or you can use (and I can teach) the Andean plying technique that uses yarn looped around your fingers.
  • I always like to make samples with my breed-specific yarns, although only the rare speed-demon has time to do this within the workshop itself. Sampling options for scraps of yarn as well as time include knitting needles, crochet hooks, or Weave-It or similar extra-simple loom.
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